A federal grand jury has indicted an Alameda man on 15 counts of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with the alleged theft of funds from a prepaid debit cards program for federal benefits.

According to the indictment this month, Nathan Wu-Falkenborg, 49, of Alameda, worked in fraud prevention at a company that administered a prepaid debit card program. Known as Direct Express, the program allowed recipients of federal benefits to access their benefits through a prepaid debit card account.

In just six months, between September 2021 and March 2022, an FBI investigation found that Wu-Falkenborg allegedly used his access to confidential account information to activate and use numerous Direct Express accounts that had been funded but did not appear to be in use.

The indictment describes that Wu-Falkenborg fraudulently obtained approximately $800,000 from these Direct Express accounts using several hundred ATM withdrawals around the Bay Area and online transactions.

Wu-Falkenborg is also charged with the unauthorized use of a Direct Express customer’s identity to open various accounts that he used to execute the scheme and unlawfully using debit cards associated with two victim customers, according to Missakian.

Wu-Falkenborg was released on bond and is scheduled to appear in district court on July 9.

Wu-Falkenborg is charged with 12 counts of bank fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million for each bank fraud charge, and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each aggravated identity theft charge.